A consumer court in Bengaluru has awarded a consumer Rs 10,090 as compensation after he was sold cakes worth Rs 90 at a Reliance Fresh outlet post the expiry date.

R Jayachandran, the litigant, said that he was sold a packet of cakes at the outlet on 18 April 2016, although it was past its expiry date. Upon seeing his son fall ill and noticing the expiry date on the product’s box, he wrote a letter to the outlet manager but received no response. He then decided to take the help of the consumer court and filed a case against Reliance Retail. Meanwhile, he had to spend a few thousand rupees on the treatment of his son.

The consumer court saw this as a case of ‘unfair trade practice’ as the retailer had put the expired product on its shelves and sold it to customers. From the retailer’s end, it was argued that the litigant had not given concrete medical records to show that the cakes sold by Reliance had caused the food poisoning. However, the court said that despite the medical records not being produced, it was still a major lapse on the part of the seller, and awarded the consumer Rs 10,090 as compensation – Rs 90 as the refund of the faulty product, Rs 5,000 he incurred towards litigation expenses, and Rs 5,000 as compensation for the inconvenience caused to him.